Page 45 of Headcase
Zane nodded. “If it wasn’t suicide…yeah.”
David tilted his head. “Why would you say that?”
“Because there are rumors that these might not have been suicides. That it was part of a game,” Zane said.
The color started to drain from David’s face a bit more. “A game?”
“Yeah, a game your roommate was playing,” Asa said.
“W-What?” David said.
“Eric. People say he was playing a game. People say they heard it from you,” Zane said.
David’s eyes started darting around, like he might bolt. Zane held both hands up. “Look, nobody will know you told us anything. We just want to talk to Eric.”
David shook his head jerkily. “I can’t help you. I have no idea where he is. His parents don’t even know where he went. I don’t even know if he’s still alive.”
“Can you at least tell us why you think he was playing this game? Like I said, nobody will know you spoke to us,” Zane promised.
David seemed to vacillate on it for a moment before finally heaving out a sigh. “It started a few months ago.”
Zane fought the urge to fist pump. “What did?”
“The rumors about the game,” David said. “People were saying you couldn’t apply, you were chosen. That it was some underground thing. They talked about it like getting chosen made you elite. Some said the game had already started, others said it hadn’t. Some people said it was fake, others said it was like a mind game made to test, like, spies and secret agents. They said it was like…psychological warfare.”
“Psychological warfare?” Zane echoed. “What does that mean?”
David waved a hand, then lifted his ball cap to run his hands through sweaty blond hair before replacing it once more. “It was all just rumors. Some of them were crazy. There was a million dollar payday. It was some supernatural thing, like out of a horror movie. Once you started to play, there was no way to stop it. Some said it was just some Japanese horror movie with a kitschy hook, like they did with theBlair Witch Project. It just took on this sort of urban legend-like quality for a few weeks. But then we all found something new to talk about…until the first death.”
“Xander Hamilton,” Zane said.
David gave a jerky half-nod. “People were shocked. Upset. Except Eric. He was weird about it. Said some people couldn’t handle the pressure. It didn’t make any sense. I didn’t even think Eric knew Xander. But Eric was unraveling all on his own.”
Zane frowned, leaning heavier against Asa’s solid frame, something loosening when he felt Asa pull him back against him a little more. “How so?”
“Eric was solid. Nothing fazed him. He was literally the most level-headed, chill guy I knew. But just before Xander died, Eric started acting weird. Erratic. He stayed up all night, stopped showering. He looked sick. Pale. I think he started abusing his Adderall. It didn’t matter what time of day or night it was, he was awake, watching weird ass shit on his laptop.”
“What kind of weird shit?” Asa asked.
“Like people being tortured, people in foreign countries being beheaded. People torturing animals and kids. Sick fucking shit. I threatened to report him. That was when he said it was all part of the game. That he just had to make it through the thirty days.”
Zane’s stomach sloshed, goosebumps rising, as he pictured his brother participating in something that twisted. Would he agree to something like that? Would anybody? It sounded insane. “Why would anybody agree to something like that?”
“Money. I think he thought there was actually money involved. He was on scholarship. He was buying his grades. His parents were psychos. I think he thought if he had this money he could get out from under his parents’ thumb.”
Gage would do that. He hated the hold his parents had on him. He was on partial scholarship but they held other things over his head. Room. Board. He had to toe the line or the guilt trips would start.
“You okay, man?” David asked, snapping Zane out of his thoughts.
“Yeah. Sorry,” Zane said. “Long day.”
David’s brow furrowed. It was only three o’clock in the afternoon. But Zane stood by his statement. It had been a long day. And it wasn’t over. He still had to live through a meeting with Thomas Mulvaney.
“How do you know Eric ran away and something didn’t happen to him? Maybe he went off campus to end his life like the others,” Asa said.
“I came home from class one day and his shit was gone. There was just a note that said, “I quit. Don’t tell anyone.”
“That could easily be a suicide note, no?” Zane asked.
